DOJ Finds Berkeley Law Broke Admissions Rules

Federal investigators spent months analyzing Berkeley Law's admissions data and application materials. What they found was specific: Black applicants had 5.8 times higher odds of admission than white applicants with equivalent credentials in 2025. In 2024, that figure was 6.5 times.¹

The investigators also flagged the application itself. Berkeley Law asked applicants to identify their race, then used that information to group admitted students with others who shared their "primary identity." Essay prompts were, according to the findings, written to draw out racial information that Berkeley then used in selection decisions.¹

This is a significant enforcement action. The Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision barred race-conscious admissions at all colleges and universities. Berkeley Law's practices in 2024 and 2025 — a full year or two after that ruling took effect — are what the DOJ is calling deliberate continuation, not an oversight.

Berkeley Is Not the Only One

Three findings. Six weeks. That's not random auditing.

The DOJ announced in early August that Duke University Law School discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its recent entering classes.² Later that month, George Washington University's medical school received the same finding.³ Now Berkeley Law.

The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has opened separate investigations at five medical schools this year. The DOJ is working through a list of selective professional programs — law schools and medical schools first.

What Comes Next for Berkeley

The DOJ is seeking a voluntary resolution agreement with Berkeley Law — a negotiated settlement in which the school changes its practices without litigation. If Berkeley refuses, the DOJ has said it will file suit.¹

Schools that have faced similar findings previously have generally removed race checkboxes from their applications, revised essay prompts that explicitly asked about racial identity, and eliminated any internal grouping of applicants by background. The Yale medical school finding earlier this year followed the same enforcement sequence.

If you're applying to Berkeley Law for fall 2027, review the application in October and November for updated essay prompts. Prompts that previously asked about your racial or ethnic background, your community identity, or your experience as a member of an underrepresented group are the ones most likely to be revised or dropped. The ABA repealed its law school diversity standard earlier this year — this enforcement action is the next step in the same direction.

What This Means If You're Applying to Law School

For current applicants, the practical picture is this:

Your diversity statement is still permitted. LSAC and most law school applications still include an optional diversity statement. You can write one explaining how your background shaped your perspective and goals. What the DOJ objects to is a school weighting race as a selection factor — not an applicant describing their own experience. Write it if it genuinely adds something to your file.

Some essay prompts may change before applications finalize. Law school applications update between August and October. If a school's application currently includes a prompt asking directly about racial or ethnic group membership, that prompt may be revised before the cycle closes. Check the application date stamp when you go to draft your essays — don't build around a prompt that might disappear.

Academic metrics matter more when subjective factors narrow. LSAT scores and undergraduate GPA are the clearest signals left when schools pull back on other variables. If you're at or near the median for a school you want, the LSAT is your most straightforward lever.

Law school applications through LSAC show a "last updated" date. Berkeley Law, Duke Law, and GWU Medical are all likely to revise their application materials before the fall 2026 cycle closes — Berkeley is actively in settlement negotiations. If you check an application today and then again in six weeks, the essay prompts may look different.

For a full overview of how to build a competitive law school application, see our graduate school admissions guide. For the financial side, our guide to how to pay for graduate school covers loan options, employer sponsorship, and grant funding.

The Bottom Line

Three major professional school findings in six weeks is a pattern, not a coincidence. The enforcement sweep is running through selective law schools and medical schools at institutions that were still using race as a factor after SFFA.

If you're applying this fall, your job remains the same: build the strongest application you can on academic merit, personal narrative, and genuine fit. The rules around what schools can ask and weigh are changing — that's their constraint to manage. Yours is to present yourself clearly and compellingly on whatever the final application asks.

Footnotes

1. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. (2026, September 9). Joint Investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Department of Education Finds U.C. Berkeley Law School Discriminates Based on Race in Admissions. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/joint-investigation-us-justice-department-and-us-department-education-finds-uc-berkeley-law ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Inside Higher Ed. (2026, August 7). DOJ Finds Duke Law Discriminated in Admissions. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/07/doj-finds-duke-law-discriminated-admissions ↩

3. Higher Ed Dive. (2026, September). The colleges facing DOJ accusations of racial discrimination in admissions. https://www.highereddive.com/news/the-colleges-facing-doj-accusations-of-racial-discrimination-in-admissions/829084/ ↩